University of Calgary’s Scurfield Hall and Engineering G block – Calgary

“While an undergraduate at U of C I spent most of my time in two buildings: Scurfield Hall and Engineering G block. Scurfield tended to separate each activity within it. The atrium had friends chatting and getting coffee, the halls were for walking between classes, seminar rooms were for meetings and group work, and individual study took place in the library or a cubicle on the lowest level. Each area had its designated activity with little interaction between them.

Block G combines its dedicated use as a research and teaching facility with the in-between space I previously described by wrapping the central block of Labs on all sides with inhabitable mezzanines and corridors. Constructed within the courtyard of existing faculty buildings the block maintains public gathering space withing a continuous central atrium that runs up from the basement level to glass ceiling. Within it you will find students playing ping pong, reading and chatting on the inhabited stairwell at its center, or working in groups at tables and modular furniture pieces. It is the halls and mezzanines that run above this however that give this space its particular quality. Each level above the ground floor hosts a wrapping hall that runs from one side of the atrium, around the block of labs in the center, and back to the atrium on its opposite end. These halls are left open to the lowest level, allowing the noise of life below to filter up to the benches, tables, and chairs that line them. You are able to inhabit these spaces for any purpose you may have. I have eaten lunch alone on the top-level watching skateboarders in the courtyard below, spent hours talking with friends, and worked on countless assignments all within the same space. It allows you to move up and down between levels coming closer to and moving away from the other activity within the space based on your current needs without ever completely removing your connection to the social space below. Users are able to make themselves equally comfortable within the space regardless of their purpose for being there, and without the building necessitating any particular activity or method of inhabitation in order to do so.” (Booklet Positive Lived Experiences of Quality in the Built Environment 2023, p.55).

Google map link: https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.080263,-114.1318927,18.75z